I struggled with the wording on this one, I really did.
I ended up cutting out the bit where Ten compared noticing attractive people to noticing pretty architectural features on buildings for all the feeling behind it for him. And boy am I unversed on the subject, but I was attempting to convey this in a way other than Ten going “I’m asexual!” because that’s occurred to him as an option and that’s not quite it. There’s a bit more to it.
Also, this is the first time I’ve drawn any depiction of Kim’s girlfriend. I should probably figure out what her name is soon…
A new vote incentive is coming… probably tomorrow. This week got away from me. Good news is I’m moved into my new home (huzzah!), most of the important stuff is put away, and I learned something about how to put up drywall.
EDIT: This week’s new vote incentive is something a bit more lighthearted and silly because there’s never a bad time for Tattle shenanigans.
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Progress towards the next bonus page: $0/$20 (2 pages owed)
(Donate any amount of money by clicking the ‘donate’ button in the left sidebar. Each time we reach $20 in total donations, I’ll post another bonus page of extra story.)
Geneseepaws
avsaroke
Oh Ten I love you even MORE now! This is exactly like me and I relate 100%! I kinda thought this is what he was going to say after seeing the last page, and it makes me happy that I guessed it. Figuring out stuff is HARD.
Yeah so i found this comic this morning at like… idk 5am read until i had to leave for school/work and then regretted that i already caught up… But i do have to say i’m hooked.
Yeah so, i found this comic through another site that i read, decided eh i’ll give it a look flipped back to the first page and was pretty much hooked immediately. So i read from 5am till i had to leave for school/work and kinda regret that i caught up so fast. But i must say this, is… i’m coming back next week and all the weeks after that. Keep up the amazing work.
oh btw the anonymous one was me i kinda derpped a bit….
Welcome to the fun
Hope you’re enjoying the comic, it’s won a place in my heart as awesome.
…Okay so Ten is even more like me than I originally thought? >.>
Here, give a read.
http://tinyurl.com/43v4h5e
http://tinyurl.com/bc4rtox
Speaking as someone who basically has said everything Ten just did before (sometimes in eerily similar wording), I think you got it down pretty well!
Thanks a ton for the links, Rosque! This is actually insanely helpful. ^_^
As my friend put it: 50 shades of gray a ;3
Poor confused Ten. I see where he is coming from though. That is a difficult decision to make when you have just seen people as people and had never felt an attraction to either gender.
Demisexual?
Sounds a lot like Asperger Syndrome.
High intelligence but stunted or missing emotional responses are two of the major defining characteristics of AS.
I felt like that until i was 15, and met a cousin in another state and it was Love at first sight, didn’t happen again till I was 35. It’s as if I could “be” with anybody, and really happy, but once in a while; BAM! – it’s s/him! It’s an amazing feeling. But rare.
Not all aspies are asexual. Hi I am a queer aspie.
Ten is anything but stunted emotionally; he just doesn’t have strong sexual/romantic feelings. And most people with Asperger’s I know, including myself, have strong emotions as well. We just often have difficulty reading other people’s emotions or relating to them emotionally, especially before we get to know them well.
I disagree. On the “sexual attraction” level, Ten is emotionally stunted. In fact, he seems to be emotionally truncated, with his ability to appreciate others ending at friendship.
I can relate to that because I can honestly say that I’ve never been in love. In fact, looking back on my life I can’t think of anyone I’ve emotionally loved, ever.
I’m able to go through the actions associated with love but except for “agape” love, the emotions are like… “Error 53 File not found”.
Having AS is like living on a planet of alien beings whose emotions are almost, but not quite, the same as yours and the emotions which are different are critical ones for understanding people.
You sounds like sociopath not an autistic.
By the way, you should visit Fangorn forest. Treebeard is looking for you.
Oh good griefy. Not every social problem means Aspergers. Ten gets on great with his peers (socially). Most people with true Aspergers folks do not—especially not in their youth. They actually need to be taught such things. My sister teaches special ed kids and one of my closest friends has a child with AS who receives assistance.
Also, while Aspies do not usually do well in social situations, they can function fine sexually or in relationships (at least to the point they get into one—from there it can be a roller coaster unless they are self-aware and work a lot with a partner who is patient and understanding).
There can be 1,001 reasons why Ten is the way he is sexually as there can be both a physical and emotional causes.
Wow, ten looks so miserable in panel #5! You really show his pain right on his face. I hope that Jovi’s affection for Ten will allow him to see his friend’s suffering. It must be so hard for Ten, but he doesn’t seem upset by how he is, just confused by its being different?? IDK? Thoughts? Accursed? Sres? Zanazoth? Beuller? Beuller?
Jovi may be feeling sad and rejected, but he is still Ten’s friend and they are still very close. And Ten just shared with him something that he probably hasn’t talked about with many others. Something that even he doesn’t really understand.
Sorry for late response, I got thrown some really odd work shifts the past couple days, due to the higher ups visiting, so sleep went random, and my work hours exploded…
Anyway!!!
I’m not sure if I stated this before, but I have this problem. I’ve been attracted to one person in my life, and it was a minor thing.
I can bluntly point out comments about people, that get taken as flirting, or making a move, but I never mean it as anything more than a compliment. I find it very, very hard to find people as anything more than a friend, and I figured it was just me being odd, didn’t realize it’s a thing.
Of course my mind has always been a bit off since I was young XD
However! This comic is not the Zan Azoth comic. And the title now makes more sense to me.
I really hope Jovi understands, and relaxes a bit. Their friendship is one of the most interesting I’ve seen in webcomics, and even in life.
Y’know, surprisingly I didn’t intend the comic’s title to have that meaning at all. If anything, I think I decided on “Shades of Gray” as a not so subtle jab at the fact that none of the characters can really be definitively classified as “good” or “bad” people. They all occupy a morally gray area.
‘Course, that’s just the original idea. Over time it’s starting to pick up other meanings, which is cool.
Ten is miserable because he just accidentally hurt his closest friend. Jovi is a really good guy, so I’m sure he’ll understand, it might just take some time. As for Ten’s confusion, it must be confusing seeing everyone around you have these intense, deep feelings for someone and have no idea what it’s like. I can only imagine it would feel like being born without nerve-endings, you can’t feel upset about not having the feeling, because you have nothing to compare your numbness to. (Or being born blind, deaf, mute, or unable to smell)
Happily (and I may be reading too much into a squiggle) Jovi seems to have a half-smile going on; his eyes say he’s not entirely happy, but his “Hey, it’s Ten” response is kicking in…
Sort of like a “I’m upset… but somehow this doesn’t surprise me, and in fact makes complete sense, coming from Ten” type of thing.
Huh… That’s.. kind of how I feel a lot of the time.
I honestly feel bad for Jovi, I have kinda been on the end of that spectrum before. Imma dude that like dudes and chicks. So I find a cute girl and ask her out and she turns me down, not because she doesn’t like me but because she isn’t sexually attracted to anyone. Which is weird because I am the opposite. I’m pansexual I like everyone. So I really feel for Jovi, but I also feel for Ten and hope this relationship isn’t destroyed.
I think I would like both sexes, I have 0 issue pointing out the physical and mental positives about them. But, as stated to Genesee, I honestly have no idea XD
Though, as I’ve been getting older, I’m starting to like people a bit more than on a friendly scale, just have yet to force myself to act on anything.
God I love this comic. Damn.
Hurrah for Pan Sexuals!! But for me, satyrs are off the list. People are just beautiful and everyone has what they are, to offer. People are just wonderful, and that’s that. But–sometimes I have found someone special, and that makes it extra-special.
No satyrs D: aahhh I has a sad (A lot of my art and story telling focuses on satyrs and fauns hahah)
Don’t ‘Sad’ face, Bi- the way, Yes! Everyone is wonderful, just finding that someone special is difficult. You want someone to want to be with you, but when you are two or three sigma, it’s difficult. It took me almost 15 years to correct my first big mistake. If you find someone who wants you, that’s not enough, you need someone who ACCEPTS you AS you are; that’s the hard part. Sorry about the satyrs– I’m just an old goat.
<3 I totally love the fanbase to this comic
We're all awesome.
I think it’s asexual. Pansexual is someone whose attracted to everybody, while Ten is attracted to nobody except as friends.
NOW YOU NOW!!!!! (cue rainbows)
-A.H.
I have this problem too. I didn’t realize there could be so many others who felt similarly. It really makes me feel a lot better about my situation, knowing I’m not so alone in this. That maybe it’s not THAT weird.
Thank you so much Rosque! This is really helpful and I’ll definitely be looking further into this. I just didn’t know where to start before.
You are totally not alone. There are tons of people who feel the same. If you haven’t already, try looking up the AVEN website. They have lots of information and friendly people. And cake.
I only had this problem up until about 6th or 7th grade. By the time 8th grade rolled around I pretty much had it figured out. I guess hormones kicked in or whatever but before that it was just like Ten had described. I could look at guys or girls and find attractive qualities but I was never attracted to them. Basically I liked guys (in theory). One of the worst choices I made was saying yes to this guy who asked me out (This was when I was 14) . I didn’t really have feelings for him, but I kinda wanted to see if they would develop because I could see he was cute, but he wasn’t cute for me (if that makes sense). Dated the guy for three weeks, and tried really hard but it just didn’t happen. He tried to make a move on me once and I flat out turned it down, so that was awkward. Lesson learned: don’t date anyone if you’re not ready. Also, feelings cannot be forced. They’re either there or not there.
On another note…I GOT MY GRAVATAR!!!!
Congrats on the nice gravitar? strong women point guns at strangers?
Pshhh it’s a joke between me and my friends. So cynical…
And no, I don’t think strong women point guns at strangers. I’ve just used it for a long time because it reminds me of a while ago and I don’t think there’s a problem with that.
What it IS, is an awesome gravitar, what I Thought was that it was what I wouldn’t ever wanna see IRL. It’s still awesome.
Oh … Cynical doesn’t come even close. I smile a lot ‘though! I have a mate, and a dog, I happy. Although i DO want more blue pages, what i REALLY Want is more friends -Are you friendly?
Sounds nice :3
And yes I am friendly, I hope my post didn’t come off as passive-aggressive or anything (when I re-read it, i saw it could seem that way). I was trying to be joking but I know that’s difficult to convey over text.
It’s okay Ten.*Pats Ten*
Wow! I love the way Ten describes his feelings. I know what it’s like to see romance around you and not understand what they’re feeling.
On a general note, I just read through the archives today. It’s been pretty interesting; I love the concepts and art style. Two thumbs up.
So, may as well add my voice to the rabble.
As an asexual (awho is slowly moving away from aroomantic while at it), this page really speaks to me. It’s nice to see this portrayed in fiction this way as I just don’t see it very often, and most of the time it’s either done wrong, or kind of treated as a joke (like, say, big Bang Theory), which isn’t necessarily -bad- mind you, but it’s really nice to see it treated with the seriousness it deserves every now and then.
So thank you. Thanks very much.